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PearlCityBoy
Lokahi
USA
432 Posts |
 Posted - 01/13/2010 : 10:02:28 AM
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Howzit Mitch,
Sounds like you have another awesome show lined up. Wish I could be there--hopefully next year, unless of course you have a Northern California Slack Key Festival (one can wish, right?  ).
Also, make sure Andy stays out of trouble.
Aloha,
Doug |
Edited by - PearlCityBoy on 01/13/2010 10:05:46 AM |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 10:17:38 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by PearlCityBoy
Also, make sure Andy stays out of trouble.
I am looking forward to getting in and out of trouble. My first Southern Cal Slack Key Festival. |
Andy |
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tafkam1
Lokahi
USA
320 Posts |
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tafkam1
Lokahi
USA
320 Posts |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 6:57:49 PM
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| Nice article and yes I am a SoCalSKF 1st timer! |
Andy |
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tafkam1
Lokahi
USA
320 Posts |
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wdf
Ha`aha`a
USA
1153 Posts |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2010 : 09:22:12 AM
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'tink she meant Waimanalo?
I don't have a home in Waikoloa any more -- but last I checked, it was in the Kohala District, West Hawai'i (The Big Island - TBI). |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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tafkam1
Lokahi
USA
320 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2010 : 04:55:55 AM
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Here's an excellent article Al Rudis did on Led when I brought him over to do a show in Torrance in 2008 - Led and Sharon said this was the BEST pieve anyone has ever done for them:
Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) - Friday, April 18, 2008
Author/Byline: Al Rudis, Staff Writer
Edition: Valley
Section: U
Page: 8
It was while attending his mother's funeral that Ledward Kaapana saw his childhood die.
"They came to the funeral parlor and told everybody that they had one hour to go back and get their belongings," he remembers. "We saw my grandfather's house burning. It was all gone. We just got tears in our eyes because everything was so different. No trees, nothing. Just black lava, that's all you could see."
Kaapana's grandfather had told him it was coming around 1969 and 1970, when the first bulldozers came to the black-sand beach of Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii, followed by the subdevelopers and the hippies from the mainland.
"The hippies were the first ones that came to Kalapana," said Kaapana, speaking by telephone from Maui. "They were living in the mountains and growing pot. My grandfather said one time, 'Madam Pele (you know, the volcano) is going to take their land, because they're coming over here and doing all these things they're not supposed to be doing.' Because it was all sacred ground."
The eruption wiped Kalapana off the map, but if you are at the El Camino College Campus Theatre Sunday night, you'll see the Kalapana culture has survived.
Kaapana, who was immersed in the music of his people, emerged from Kalapana to become one of the virtuosos of the slack key guitar. He'll be performing with 12-string guitar master Mike Kaawa. Jim "Kimo" West, who wowed the audience at the recent Southern California Slack Key Guitar Festival, is opening for the duo.
Kaapana and his family moved to Kalapana in 1956, but while the rest of the world was being rocked by a new medium called television and a new music called rock 'n' roll, the family at Kalapana was living like it was the 1860s and they were starring in "Little House on the Big Island."
"We were isolated from the city, so my lifestyle was growing up and learning how to live off the land to survive," said Kaapana. "We didn't have any bowling alley, no TV, no stores. It was the old Hawaiian style of living. Every day you woke up and found something to do. We raised pigs and cows and horses. We went fishing and hunting for food. We hunted wild pigs and wild bulls.
"Everything was created by you to enjoy your life," he said. "We used to climb trees and go swimming and watch my mom and dad play music. That's how I started playing music, ukulele at 6 and guitar at 7."
The Big Island isn't all that big, and the largest town, Hilo, was only 32 miles away.
"We never had a highway," said Kaapana. "We had an old gravel road. Some parts had pavement and asphalt, and after that it was gravel again. It was a one-car road, so when there were two cars, one car had to give the other car room to pass."
That's why the trips to Hilo were only once a month to stock up on canned goods.
It wasn't totally primitive. Even though there was no electricity, there were lanterns. And refrigerators that ran on kerosene. And the one-room school had generators that supplied electricity for the students.
"I loved it," said Kaapana. "Everything was so crystal. The land and the water were clean, and everything was full of life."
For entertainment, everyone in Kalapana played music, Kaapana said.
"My uncle, Fred Punahoa, was one of the best. That's why I learned from him, and from my dad, George Kaapana, and my mother, Tina. They were the three that played music when we were young, at home and at parties.
"When I was living there, we were all related," he said. "So when we used to get together, the luau would go on for a month. And the music would go on and on and on."
Kaapana soaked in all the music and the style of each relative who performed. The year he started seventh grade was the same year transistor radios came to the Big Island.
"The thing wouldn't work unless it was nighttime," he said. "We used to take copper wire and tie it to the top of a coconut tree and then bring the wire all the way down into the house and stick it in the radio. And the thing would catch all the stations from Oahu."
When he listened to the slack key music of Gabby Pahinui from Oahu, "Walk, Don't Run" by the Ventures, country-western and oldies but goodies, his guitar playing absorbed new influences.
Kaapana's first public appearances were at school assemblies, followed by gigs at the school principal's Lions Club. He turned professional at 16, in 1962, playing at the Islanders, a club in Hilo.
"Because of child labor laws and because they were serving hard liquor, my mom and dad had to sit there each time until we were finished," he said.
From there, it was back to the other side of the island, closer to home, at the Kona Inn. And then on to Maui and the world.
Meanwhile, there was the other side of life, working construction and laying water pipelines.
"You couldn't make a living playing music," Kaapana said. "You had to have both. Then in the '70s, that's when the music really started. I played full time from 1970 to 1977. And then in 1978 everything changed. Karaoke came in, and everything started going the other way, and I had to go back and look for another job."
Today, the musician who's honored as one of the greatest slack key guitarists by aficionados all over the world still works for a living.
"I got a good job," he said. "I work at a security outfit called Hawaiian Protective Association. I'm a maintenance clerk. All I do is the drop-off and the pickup, and I maintain all the vehicles that the security people drive. I have a good boss. He lets me go out and do all this touring and always tells me, 'Don't forget to come back to work.' "
Despite his popularity, Kaapana says he didn't get serious about his music until the early 1980s.
"I started practicing in 1983, '84, around there. That's really when I started with the guitar," he said. "I was getting kind of disappointed in myself because when I was doing that, I was finding all kinds of good things on the guitar that I should have done when I was younger.
"The reason why, I don't know. I guess it's because I took it for granted. And today, I'm so happy, because I keep on finding all these new runs and finding new things to play. I play the guitar every time I get a chance. In fact, I would say I play every day."
He says the practicing taught him "how to feel the music instead of just playing the music, how to put the music across to the people to let them feel what I'm feeling.
"When I see them smiling or crying, I know I'm doing my job," he said. "Sometimes I'm having so much fun that I fall asleep on the guitar. And I get up and continue."
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Mitch Chang
http://www.kalakoa.com/
http://www.ukulelewebsite.com/ |
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PearlCityBoy
Lokahi
USA
432 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2010 : 11:03:14 AM
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Howzit Mitch,
Mahalo for sharing the Al Rudis article on Led. Very insightful and quite sad when you think about your family home and the whole town being destroyed. I remember watching footage on the evening news when the lava flow hit Kalapana--I vaguely recall that the lava went around the church and it was left standing.
Anyhow, I think it was Bob Brozman who said something to the effect that when you hear Led play, you can hear the generations of Hawaiian music that was passed on to him by his family. Man, I have chicken skin right now recalling the first time I heard Led sing and play "Nani" in the old style. Led's music goes much deeper than fast licks. The man is a living treasure.
Aloha,
Doug
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dragonfly213
Akahai
66 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2010 : 6:38:01 PM
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| I really really wanted to go, but lack of $$ and hula rehearsal keeping me from it. Maybe I can win the lotto and see Keali'i Reichel at Disney Hall. Have fun y'all! |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 07:05:15 AM
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Mahalo Mitch for putting together another awesome show. And thanks to all the musicians, both slack key and others for honoring us by coming here and freezing to share the most beautiful music in the world.
By the way, Lehua has agreed to hold a workshop to share her music. She has supported Led with his workshops in Waikiki so this will be a little different, and it will be both Lehua and Chuck. If anyone is interested, please contact me. I think I caught most of this weekend's workshop participants Sat night or yesterday at the festival.
Once again, mahalo nui to everyone who worked hard so that we may have slack key right here.
nancy |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 2:26:12 PM
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Kudos to Mitch and congrats on a successful 3rd Annual Southern California Slack Key Festival.
I was very impressed with the size and scope of the production. Great venue - 1400 seats, just about sold out, good sound and lighting - sponsors, food/drink, vendors, raffles, professional video. The stage was beautifully decorated.
Uncle Cyril Pahinui opened the show along with Kunia Galdeira, Sonny Lim, Peter Moon, Jr., Greg Sardinha. While atypical for Uncle Cyril to "open", I thought it cool to kick off the show with such solid traditional Hawaiian music. The ensemble sounded great as each instrumentalist took his turn to be featured in a paʻani. It was the first time for me to hear Kunia sing. His strong falsetto was slightly hampered by a cold but nevertheless the crowd was impressed. I really enjoyed their fresh interpretation of Ka ʻUluwehi O Ke Kai played for the dancers of a local hālau.
Continuing the traditional Hawaiian theme Uncle Ledward Kaapana played his classic tunes including ʻOpihi Moemoe, Slack Key Lullaby, Ikona. He was later joined by his sister Lehua Kaapana Nash.
From there, the show displayed more diverse styles of slack key from traditional to progressive. Makana played songs from his new album. From the gasps, oohs and aahs behind me, I take it that people were awed by his big guitar sound. His Kuʻu Lei Awapuhi is always a highlight.
Mitch Chang performed offering me the opportunity to illegally sneak back stage!   Kimo West followed selecting some really nahenahe tunes from his repertoire. He was joined by Jeff Peterson, and I thoroughly enjoyed their slack key duet on Kipahulu. Jeff continued with a solo set impressing the audience with his skill and diversity. The slack key arrangement of big band era favorite In the Mood totally rocked.
Amy Hanaialiʻi joined Jeff for a bunch of tunes. From my patchy memory... Haleiwa Hula, Palehua, The Hukilau Song (I really liked this from her Nostalgia CD), and What Is Life? (duet with John Cruz as recorded on her most recent release Amy Hanaialiʻi: Friends and Family of Hawaiʻi.) While I love listening to Amy and her full band, I also enjoyed the simplicity of Jeff's solo guitar with Amy's vocals. Kind of like having "MTV unplugged" Hawaiian style.
John Cruz closed the show accompanied by steel guitarist Greg Leisz. BTW, Greg may not be well-known by name but the list of who he has recorded or performed with reads like a who's who of the music industry. His playing was very tasteful and complimented John. John played songs from both Acoustic Soul and One of These Days. He was joined by all the performers on Island Style and the show concluded with Hawaiʻi Aloha.
It was nice seeing SoCal Taropathers, meeting new people, catching up and talking story. It was great to see a slack key guitar show of this size on the mainland. Mahalo to Mitch, performers, sponsors and everyone else involved in putting it together. I was out for business so it was a total bonus for me to spend my day the way I did. |
Andy |
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dragonfly213
Akahai
66 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2010 : 6:33:17 PM
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| Aaah wish I knew which halau did Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai.. Now I am really bummed I couldn't go. Thanks for the report! |
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salmonella
Lokahi
240 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2010 : 06:05:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by dragonfly213
Aaah wish I knew which halau did Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai.. Now I am really bummed I couldn't go. Thanks for the report!
According to the program it was...Halau Hula Lani Ola |
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Southern California Slack Key Festival - 2010
